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While serving as a youth sports coach in the U8 age group for Terrebonne Parish Recreation this past fall, local basketball enthusiast Brandon Castle had something catch his eye.
“I noticed the talent,” Castle said. “I said to myself, ‘Man, I want to coach this All-Star team.’ I knew those boys could be special. I knew they had all of the talent in the world.”
The coach was right.
His group did indeed have a talent pool that was as good as any other in the world – literally.
The U8 TPR boys’ basketball All-Star Team won the Biddy International Championship in February in Thibodaux at the Harang Auditorium, outlasting 16 teams from around the globe to secure the title.
TPR beat St. Charles in the Championship Game – a rematch between the evenly matched teams that traded victories throughout the season.
Castle said he’s still in shock that his team won the title, adding that the TPR win is good for Houma-area basketball.
“It’s surreal,” Castle said. “I still can’t believe it myself. I knew we had a good group, but to win it all? It still almost feels like it hasn’t hit me just yet. It’s a great feeling, and it means everything to those kids, man. They’re going to remember this entire thing for the rest of their careers and lives.”
Nothing came easy for TPR along the course of the season.
Castle said his team was at a disadvantage right from the starting blocks, because the TPR Biddy Basketball season is shorter than a lot of the programs around Louisiana, which gives the team fewer preseason tournaments to play than anyone else.
In the opening weekend of the season in Donaldsonville, TPR’s inexperience showed. The team rolled through its early-pool games, including a victory over St. Charles.
But in bracket play, St. Charles answered back and topped Terrebonne, securing the tournament title. That loss, Castle said, was a teachable moment to the young TPR team.
“We underestimated them a little bit,” Castle said. “We beat them the first time, but their big kid wasn’t there. He missed for some reason. He came back and they got the better of us in that one. But the kids really focused after that first weekend and got so much better in just the short amount of time that we had with them.
“After that first weekend, we really never looked back.”
From Donaldsonville, TPR went to a tournament in Walker, which they swept to win the title. After that was Regionals – which they also swept to clinch a berth into Nationals.
At Nationals, Terrebonne was pushed to its limit multiple times, including a thrilling early-round game with New Orleans – a team that Castle said was “probably the most impressive team there.”
Terrebonne won that game 58-49 in overtime, rallying from a nearly insurmountable deficit late in the game.
It was by far the highest scoring game in the tournament.
“They had us down 11 with three and a half minutes left,” Castle said. “In U8 ball, that’s a long, long way to come back. We made a few subs and got a shooter in. We made shots, got some offense and went on an 11-0 run to tie it and bring it to overtime. Once we got there, we rallied together and pulled out a win.”
The one-two punch of Jaylon Coleman and Josiah Johnson combined for 40 points in the win over New Orleans – Coleman pitching in 27 of the total.
Castle said that one-two punch powered his team throughout the season.
Both were named All-Americans, and Coleman was Mr. Biddy.
“With those two kids on the floor, they make everyone else so much better,” Castle said. “You can have anyone around them and they’re going to make special things happen. This team had confidence. We just knew we always had a chance to win. And those two really were sort-of the leaders in that push.” •
